Chronic Inflammation

Some of the most important medical research to emerge in the last few years has linked chronic inflammation to many of the diseases that affect us today such as obesity, diabetes, heart, kidney and liver disease, and cognitive decline.

Chronic inflammation can be triggered by several things such as air pollution, food additives, alcohol, poor gut health, chronic stress and lack of physical activity – things we barely notice these days as they occur so frequently in our daily life.

The impact of chronic inflammation, however, is anything but mundane… read on….

Your immune system is a life saver – look after it!

The immune system is the body’s natural defence mechanism and is critical for survival.  The immune system is called upon to fight off attack from bacteria, viruses and other toxins; it fights off the invader and promotes tissue repair and regrowth where damage has been done.  This is known as an acute inflammatory response, and, once the attack has been fought off, the immune system goes quiet again, keeping a watchful eye out and waiting for the next attack.

You have probably noticed that when you have such an acute infection, you often feel tired and lethargic, your appetite is affected, and you don’t enjoy the things that you usually enjoy.  This part of the body’s natural response and is a way of conserving energy to fight of the infection, so you take a day off and let your body recover.

Why is chronic inflammation a problem?

However, when the body is under constant, low-level attack from, for example, environmental pollutants, chronic inflammation occurs and the immune system starts to malfunction in several ways:

Firstly, when an acute inflammatory process does occur, the immune system has trouble going back to a normal state and remains in a stimulated state, so the individual continues to feel tired and lethargic for a long time.

Secondly, the immune system becomes less effective in fighting off the next acute attack, making the individual more prone to new infections.

These are effects that we can feel and experience and are conscious of.  However, there is a third effect going on at a microscopic level, where the effects are not felt until much later.

Thirdly, damage to the body’s cell structure, tissues and organs leads to increased susceptibility to non-infectious diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, liver and kidney disease.

So the overall effect of chronic inflammation is to wear out our body’s natural defences, resulting in rapid aging effects and an increase in aging-related diseases.

Take action – help your self to a fitter, healthier future

All of this sounds pretty grim and the last thing we need is something else to worry about!   But we can do something to help ourselves and take responsibility for our own health – we all hold the power to help ourselves live longer, disease-free lives.

1.     Identify and eliminate the triggers of chronic inflammation.

·       Take a close look at what you are eating – look at the ingredients list!

·       Try and eliminate as many processed foods as possible.

·      Cook from scratch whenever possible using natural ingredients. 

2.     Consume the right balance of nutrients to boost your body’s natural immunity.

·      Rely on natural food for vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, not supplements.

·      Fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds are packed full of nutrients that support natural immunity. 

·      Learn about gut health and what you can eat to support healthy gut bacteria. 

3.     Get some physical activity.

·       Even the minimum recommended activity levels (check out the NHS website) has a profound effect on the incidence of certain cancers, type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.

·      Build physical activity into your daily routine so it becomes natural and not a chore.

·       You don’t need to become an athlete to get the benefits; walk, run or play – do anything to get your muscles moving!

Note: To a clinical scientist like me, the list of chemical and endocrine triggers for chronic inflammation makes good sense, however, I was very surprised to learn that a lack of physical activity can also cause chronic inflammation.  I won’t go into the mechanism in detail here but it centres around the fact that contraction of skeletal muscle releases cytokines that counters insulin resistance; the details are out there in the literature and several peer-reviewed studies have shown the link between low levels of physical activity and several types of cancer.

Nature Medicine volume 25, pages1822–1832 (2019)